iv been given one of them pre formed ponds and im gunna use it for my turts any advise would be great thanks

i dont have turtles but i love the idea of a pond. i really wanted a surface mount pond in the living room but my kids would drown in it, the dogs would try to bath in it and i would be forever cleaning up!! are you going to put yours in the garden?? how big is it??

__________________
my bright red hair is very SHORT........where did it go!

its only 8foot long yeah im putting it in the garden

8' is not a bad size, my own is only 6' 6" diameter but that's still around 1600 litres, quite adequate for a handful of fairly small turts.

What sort of advice are you looking for?

__________________
2.3.0 Southern Painted Turtles
1.0.0 Florida Red Belly
2.1.1 Common Musks
1.0.0 Classic Cornsnake
0.0.2 GALS + infinite babies
0.1.0 Tibetan Spaniel
1.2.0 Brahma Chickens

whats best way to stop them escaping

Some sort of barrier or fence. Min 2 ft high & turtle-proof all the way around. Can you use an existing corner or something?

Also for smaller turts some form of netting protection from predators (dogs, cats, birds, foxes) would be advisable.

__________________
I care for:

1.0.0 Red Eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)- 10/11 yrs old

0.0.2 Leopard-Spotted Catfish (Synodontis eupterus) -5/6 yrs old

0.0.1 Red Tailed Shark (Epalzeorhynchus bicolor) - 7 yrs old

2.1.0 Moggies - various ages

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be measured
by the way in which its animals are treated."
- Mahatma Ghandi

I just have an overhang all the way around the edge a few inches above the water, there's no way they can possibly climb it unless they figure out how to jump out of the water!
The basking area is an island in the middle and that's the only place they can get out of the water, so they can't escape from there either.
I recommend plenty of planting in and around the pond, it gives them a feeling of security rather than being exposed, and tall plants such as reeds make a good wind break.
Obviously don't overdo it to the point that they get no sun, try to keep the taller plants to the north side.

__________________
2.3.0 Southern Painted Turtles
1.0.0 Florida Red Belly
2.1.1 Common Musks
1.0.0 Classic Cornsnake
0.0.2 GALS + infinite babies
0.1.0 Tibetan Spaniel
1.2.0 Brahma Chickens

as allways great info thanks graham.

Graham, How much gap between the overhang & water would I need for big adults? I was planning on 2ft if possible even with an overhang maybe? What if they manage to get floating on something or a plant falls in the water?

__________________
I care for:

1.0.0 Red Eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)- 10/11 yrs old

0.0.2 Leopard-Spotted Catfish (Synodontis eupterus) -5/6 yrs old

0.0.1 Red Tailed Shark (Epalzeorhynchus bicolor) - 7 yrs old

2.1.0 Moggies - various ages

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be measured
by the way in which its animals are treated."
- Mahatma Ghandi

The overhang only needs to be a few inches above the water, as I said they'd need to be able to jump right out of the water to get over it. Obviously you need to make sure there's nothing they could climb on though, one of mine did manage to climb out a couple of years ago on a mat of vegetation, it only sat on the side and didn't go anywhere though. But now I keep an eye on the aquatic plants and thin them out every few weeks, I don't have any plants around the pond that could fall in the water and provide an escape route, just grasses and reeds.

__________________
2.3.0 Southern Painted Turtles
1.0.0 Florida Red Belly
2.1.1 Common Musks
1.0.0 Classic Cornsnake
0.0.2 GALS + infinite babies
0.1.0 Tibetan Spaniel
1.2.0 Brahma Chickens